McDonald's suffers widespread system outage, disrupting operations in Asia including Singapore and Japan

SINGAPORE: A widespread McDonald's system outage on Friday (Mar 15) disrupted operations across Asia, including in Singapore, Japan and China, leaving stores either unable to accept orders or having staff resort to pen and paper. 

A McDonald's spokesperson said that the company was aware of a technology outage impacting its restaurants and that the issue was being resolved, adding that the outage was not related to a "cybersecurity event".

The company later said the "global technology outage" was caused by a third-party provider during a "configuration change".

Self-service kiosks were a row of black screens at Funan shopping mall and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 in Singapore on Friday afternoon.

During a check by CNA, staff at the Block 109 Toa Payoh Lorong 1 outlet said they were unable to take orders at the counter or receive online orders. The kiosks also displayed a notice stating they were out of order.

A customer told CNA that he was turned away by the employees at about 4.45pm.

"I came after work ... but the staff told me they’re not taking orders anymore, so I went to buy Indian rojak instead," said the 59-year-old who wanted to be identified as Mr Ng. 

Another customer who arrived at 5pm wanted to get a McFlurry but saw that the outlet was not taking orders.

Over at the SAFRA Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Ko Avenue 10 outlets, staff were seen taking orders on slips of paper. Customers also paid cash at the Toa Payoh store. 

Users have also reported being unable to make orders on the fast food chain's app.

"We’re currently experiencing issues with the app. Mobile Order, Deals and Rewards are temporarily unavailable. We apologise for the inconvenience caused," a notice on the app read. 

CNA has contacted McDonald's Singapore for more information.

OPERATIONS HALTED

McDonald's Japan said it had halted operations at many stores nationwide due to a system disruption, with technical issues also reported in Australia, China and Hong Kong.

McDonald's Japan took to X to apologise for the inconvenience and asked customers to "wait for a while until the service is restored".

The fast food chain has nearly 3,000 shops across Japan, according to its website.

X user aria6620, purportedly a McDonald's Japan employee, said that the store they worked at was completely shut as both in-store and drive-through systems were affected. 

"I heard the cash register at our McDonald's branch has stopped working, so it seems that they have started taking orders by jotting it down on paper," said another X user. 

A similar situation unfolded in China and Hong Kong, with customers unable to place orders for several hours. 

Weibo statistics showed that the hashtag "McDonald's is down" started gaining traction at about 2pm. 

McDonald's Hong Kong took to Facebook to apologise for the inconvenience caused by a "computer system failure".

"The mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning. Please order directly at the restaurant counter," it said. 

The HK Economic Times later quoted a McDonald's spokesperson at about 4pm local time as saying the computer system had resumed normal operations.

South Korea temporarily suspended service, with its delivery website citing "regular server maintenance for website stabilisation".

India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have seemingly been unaffected. 

In Australia, where there are about 1,000 stores, a spokesperson confirmed that the issue was nationwide. 

"Was just told every McDonald’s register is closed in Melbourne by a McDonald's employee," user silentj777 said on X.

Some stores in New Zealand also reported outages. A company spokesperson told the New Zealand Herald newspaper: "Restaurants are experiencing an IT issue that's impacting their ability to process orders."

Many others took to social media to flag the unfolding situation, with X users reporting similar issues in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the US.

Additional reporting by Jeremy Long.